4 Strings and Characters

A string in Emacs Lisp is an array that contains an ordered sequence
of characters. Strings are used as names of symbols, buffers, and
files; to send messages to users; to hold text being copied between
buffers; and for many other purposes. Because strings are so important,
Emacs Lisp has many functions expressly for manipulating them. Emacs
Lisp programs use strings more often than individual characters.

See Strings of Events, for special considerations for strings of
keyboard character events.